Boot collecting money for charity stolen from North End fire house

The boot was locked and placed outside the North End fire house to collect money for charity, but that didn't stop someone from stealing it.

The fire station on Hanover Street in the North End where the boot was snatched.Credit: Courtney Sacco/Metro

Stealing from charity is bad enough, but stealing from firefighters collecting money for charity takes a certain kind of bad guy.

According to the Boston Fire Department, someone stole a boot left outside of a North End fire house to collect money for muscular dystrophy organizations.

A department spokesman said the theft occurred sometime after midnight on Thursday outside the Hanover Street fire house. The boot was on a custom stand attached to a lock box, but that didn't deter the thief.

The boot was eventually found the next day in a nearby park. The money was gone and the boot had been cut up to get to the cash.

"I don't know how much was in it, but it's the whole principle of the thing. They were collecting for muscular dystrophy," said Steve MacDonald, a fire department spokesman, adding that the fire house empties the boot pretty regularly so there probably wasn't a lot of money in the box.

MacDonald said North End neighbors have purposely made donations over recent days after hearing of the theft, and the crime will not stop the fire crew from collecting in the future.